Listicle: 10 tattoos and 10 beautiful, indelible stories they tell

Mumbai artist and musician Tejas Menon, 33, calls Star Wars his religion. So, picking something from the Lucasverse as his first tattoo was a no-brainer. He went with a red-and gold landscape binary sunset from the 1977 classic A New Hope (originally just Star Wars). “The scene is crucial. Luke Skywalker has just been told by his uncle that he can’t pursue his dream. So, he looks at the sunset, trying to imagine better future for himself. The handpoked art was created by Shivani Javeri at Stickity Tats in Andheri, Mumbai.

Delhi writer K Shriya Sharma, 31, always wanted to get a nature-themed tattoo. Her fascination with mushrooms grew when she read British biologist Merlin Sheldrake’s book Entangled Life and watched the Netflix documentary Fantastic Fungi. She found this design online. “It perfectly encapsulates who I am and what I stand for: I’m a rooter for the underdog.” She got inked at Bengaluru’s Skindeep Tattoo Studio.

Filmmaker Suyash Shrivastava, 33, got multiple small tattoos on his forearm last year, markers of his past, present and future. “There is a compass at the wrist, which represents my wanderer side,” he says. There’ also a line from the Gita, “Do your duties without thinking about the results”, the sign for Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam, and his dad’s Fujifilm camera. “The geometric lines coming out of it are a reminder of my father. He taught me the sense of framing.” He got inked at Swastika Tattoos in Hauz Khas, Delhi.

Gurugram resident Parul Pratap’s tattoo, a pine tree tattooed on the side of her wrist, marks a milestone. The 46-year-old executive chef and entrepreneur got inked upon completing eight years as a chef at Delhi’s mountain café-themed restaurant Music & Mountains. “It took more than 16 years for me to land my dream job,” she says. This is her sixth tattoo. “All my tattoos are placed in a manner that they can be easily concealed with clothing or accessories.” She got inked at Morphology Studio in the Delhi.

Freelance post-production supervisor Nupoor Bansal, 32, got her second tattoo earlier this year. The doodle of Totoro, a character from the 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro, represents her love for anime. “It’s been my go-to comfort movie since forever.” So she jumped when she found an offer on one-of-a-kind themed designs at Iron Buzz Studios in Bandra, Mumbai. This is her second tattoo.

Nayantara Kumar-Shetty, head of talent management at A&R + Label Operations at Misfits Inc in Mumbai recently got three tattoos on impulse. The pair of matching cats, a tribute to her own pets, Akira and Mooncake, is based on work by the artist Flyin Munki. She also got a pair of orchids. “I have three more tattoos, a meditating monkey called Monkey Shanti [Mann ki Shanti], a set of stars, and the word Faith on my wrist,” she says. The cats were inked by a Puncturewala Tattoos pop-up in Mumbai.

When she turned 26 last year, Tshering Choden, a social and content team lead and freelance photographer, got an Alice in Wonderland tattoo on her left arm. “Even as a kid, I’ve always related to Alice and her sense of wonder. Growing up with a strict guardian only fuelled my fascination with the world beyond. The tattoo symbolises being brave, taking more chances, and being curious,” says Tshering. She lives in Kalimpong in West Bengal and got inked at Tattoo Club in Gangtok, Sikkim.

Mansi Goda, 26, a business strategy analyst, got a permanent sunflower doodle on her shoulder, where she can see it every day. “Sunflowers have been my favourite flowers for years because they have one survival instinct: to look towards the sun/the light, while still being rooted. And the fact that the brown part in the centre is the most useful one, even though it’s not the prettiest. So, the idea is to love myself even when I’m all brown parts, no yellow,” she says. She got inked at Rebel Ink Studio in Delhi’s Hauz Khas Village late last year.

Mumbai musician and bassist Harshit Misra, aka Hashbass, 32, got two tattoos in the last year, making his total 11. On his left arm is his late mom’s name in Japanese, with the flowers she loved, and some black and white piano keys. “It is memory of her glorious life and impact she had on me.” He also has an unfinished rose and the word Faith. “I’ve left it unfinished as the rose depicts the uncertain situation where faith is alive,” he says. He got his tats from Devilz Tattooz in Delhi.

Megha Marwah, 33, who heads strategy at a digital agency in Gurugram, got a tattoo of the Triple Goddess symbol earlier this year. “It’s also called the Triple Moon symbol. It represents divine feminine power and is a constant reminder to myself that I’m powerful woman at every moment of my journey – be it the highs or the lows.” She got inked at Devil’s Tattooz in Gururgam.